This article is part of our series PR pa'l Mundo, a bridge of stories, ideas and opinions that shed light on what Puerto Ricans in the diaspora are doing, from every corner of the world.
Music, our greatest treasure as a people, knows no borders. It travels with those who feel it in their soul, with those who carry a fire inside, an internal beat, a soneo, a tumbao. A sandunga that, to the rhythm of the clave, the panadero, the barrel or the güiro, projects a small Caribbean archipelago, small in territory but immense in heart.
And in Barcelona, bomba sounds with sabrosura, with flow and with Puerto Rican piquete. In this city of 1.6 million people, Puerto Rican Marina Molina stands out doing what she knows: music. But not just any music. Marina has chosen bomba as her banner, as her way of expressing herself.
Her single "Caribe y sabrosura" is a faithful portrait of her present. She came from the Caribbean and has been sharing sabrosura with Europeans.
From Mayagüez to Ponce and then to Barcelona
Born in Mayagüez to Colombian parents and raised in Ponce, Marina grew up surrounded by music. That is no coincidence: she has prepared for this. She studied for a bachelor's degree in Popular Singing in Puerto Rico and then completed a master's degree in Film Music Composition, which led her to settle in Spain.
She has lived in Barcelona for eight years, a city that has offered her quality of life and a lifestyle in line with her convictions. "I have always believed in the collective, in the public, in rights and equality," she tells me in a conversation over Zoom.
She came to the city to study, but gradually connected with the local music scene. And while salsa was known in Spain, bomba was not.
That is where she found her mission. "I fell in love with bomba in Puerto Rico. Whenever I had the chance, I took classes in bomba, plena and percussion. When I got here, even though my focus was film composition, I felt the need to do bomba. Everyone knows salsa, but I wanted to do the other thing."
💃🏻 Marina y su Melao: Bomba evolves
After taking part in a first musical group, she realized that bomba was her "salsa." That is how Marina y su Melao was born, where she fuses this Afro-Caribbean rhythm with modern elements such as drums and bass.
"I do bomba and I will make it clear that it is bomba, but it is not traditional. I present it in a more modern style, with songs that are very much my own, respecting the rhythms of traditional bomba but incorporating instruments that are not folkloric."
And where does the Melao come from?
"I explain that bomba was born on the sugar plantations in Puerto Rico, and melao is the honey of the sugarcane, that thick, sticky liquid, and that is what bomba is like; when you hear it, it sticks to you. In Puerto Rico, melao is synonymous with sabrosura, flow, piquete. It is our way of seeing life. And I love how this concept transcends."
But her project is not just her. "I would not have melao without the other people. It is the people who make this project what it is and keep it going over time."
Since 2022, Marina has become a cultural ambassador, carrying our essence with pride.
"Every performance is an opportunity to talk about Puerto Rico, about our culture, about our politics. It is a very great responsibility and I take it seriously."
Beyond reggaetón, she wants to show that there are other Puerto Rican musical expressions that deserve to cross borders. "I love reggaetón, but I want more to be known. Bomba is also from Puerto Rico and I want it to keep traveling through Europe."
And, of course, she also embraces her identity as a Puerto Rican woman. "The same way people recognize us by the way we speak, with the 'l,' there's a part of me that loves being recognized as a Puerto Rican woman: 'Ah, that's just how Puerto Rican women are,' to which I say, 'Yes, exactly.' I love having the flow we have, the piquete. We fall under the Latina category, but Puerto Rican women have our own way of being, and I love that."
"Thank you for the representation"
Just a few weeks ago, Marina returned to Puerto Rico and performed her show for the first time at El Boricua, one of the most important stages for the cultural, alternative and independent scene.
Surrounded by great musicians, she showed her people what she has been building on the other side of the Atlantic. And her audience let her know it: "Thank you for being representation," they told her.
Bomba conquers Europe: "My music blows their minds"
For Europeans, her music is pure energy. "I get them sweating," she says with a laugh. Her sound has made such an impact that she will soon release a record with Madrid-based label Lovemonk. "It has been a process of patience, of connecting with the right people. Now I'm seeing the results and I'm really happy."
🎶 Marina y su Melao en Barcelona
What she misses most about Puerto Rico
Like any Puerto Rican in the diaspora, being far away and watching what happens on the Island through a screen is one of the hardest things. But if there is one thing she misses deeply, it is the warmth of our people.
"El boricua es cool forever and ever, and that I do miss. The warmth of people in Puerto Rico is unique, genuine, pure. I have traveled and gotten to know other countries, but that Puerto Rican energy is not found anywhere else."
She also misses the music in the street. "A Monday in Puerto Rico, people going here and there, getting invited somewhere and then somewhere else. The holidays give me FOMO… that's torture," she says, laughing.
And although her heart is in Puerto Rico, her present is in Barcelona. "I'm building in this city and I love it."
The author is a Puerto Rican creative, communicator, cultural manager and co-creator of the cultural blog Sabor Coco.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
